Chapter 30

Chapter 30
## Chapter 30

The room descended into a heavy, collective quiet as the mercenaries witnessed Lucian follow through on his promise without a second of hesitation.

A turbulent mix of sensations—bitterness, mourning, regret, and avarice—rippled through the gathered crowd.

Paying no mind to the intense, predatory stares directed at him from every corner of the room, Lucian offered a small, composed smile.

“That is a significant sum of wealth, which might make your journey a bit precarious. If it pleases you, I can provide a guard detail to see you safely to your next stop.”

“No, I’ll pass. I work better when I’m traveling light and alone.”

“Is that your choice? I suppose I won’t insist, then.”

As Lucian moved out of the way, Aiden sprinted toward the exit like a bolt released from a crossbow. Based on his frantic pace, it was obvious he intended to secure a mount and vanish from the territory immediately.

At that exact moment, the rest of the sellswords began to push back their chairs with a cacophony of scraping wood.

Their intentions were clear: track him down, end his life, and seize the fortune.

Typical behavior for their kind.

Even though Lucian had once counted himself among such men in his previous life, seeing their predictable nature now only brought a cynical smirk to his lips.

Clap, clap.

“Hold on. I haven’t concluded our business yet, so everyone return to your places.”

Before the killers could make their move, Lucian struck his palms together to regain command of the room.

The majority flinched and paused at his command, but a handful kept moving as if he hadn’t spoken. One specific pack of mercenaries marched straight toward the doorway Lucian was obstructing.

“Move aside, Young Master. I’ve got a business with a tree outside that won’t wait.”

“We’ll be right back. We can even leave you a written promise if you’re that worried about us stepping out.”

There were always those who lacked the wit to understand the gravity of a situation.

Even after watching a man’s life extinguished just moments ago, these idiots appeared to have absorbed no wisdom at all.

Lucian let out a dry chuckle and reached back into the bag of high-value coins.

“Sven was paid a price for his soul that far exceeded its actual quality. I have to wonder, what is the market value of your lives?”

“…!”

“Go back and sit. Or do you want me to bind another soul to a vow?”

Coming to their senses far too late, the men scrambled backward, their complexions turning a ghostly white.

When no one dared to speak, Lucian slammed several platinum pieces onto the tabletop and raised his voice.

“By the Eight Gods of Heaven—!”

“We’re sitting! We’re sitting right this second! See? We haven’t moved!”

“Have mercy, Young Master! We meant no slight to your person!”

The men who had been crowding the door yelped in panic and dove back into their chairs.

Witnessing this display, the remaining mercenaries froze. They understood that if they continued to test Lucian’s patience, they would be the next ones named in a deadly oath.

Once the room was settled, however reluctantly, Lucian addressed them.

“Recently, those vermin from the Empire Liberation Front have been crawling all over this region. Under normal circumstances, you lot should have been the ones to exterminate them. But because of your pathetic laziness, they’re acting like they own the province.”

“…”

“I’ll be blunt about my purpose here. I expect you to honor your agreements. Starting at dawn, you will labor exactly as much as my brother has paid for. I’m finished with your sloth. Do I make myself clear?”

At those words, the mercenaries’ expressions soured with irritation.

It was true they had been pushing their luck, thinking they held the upper hand. However, it was also true that House Valdek had locked them into contracts at basic rates even while their services were in high demand across the land.

Regardless of their behavior, this was a point the mercenaries found hard to swallow in silence.

“Young Master, don’t take this the wrong way. It’s not that we’re trying to be difficult, it’s just…”

“For every operative of the Empire Liberation Front you bring in, I will pay a bonus of one platinum coin.”

“…!?”

The mercenaries’ eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at Lucian’s sudden offer.

While it was notably less than the blood money used in the previous vow, it was still a monumental sum for a bounty. A single platinum coin, even divided amongst a whole company, was worth more than four or five standard contracts combined.

“Furthermore, any mercenary outfit that manages to capture five or more members of the Empire Liberation Front will receive an additional platinum coin as a performance incentive. What do you say?”

Gulp.

The sound of several men swallowing hard resonated through the silent hall.

If they bagged five of them, that would be six platinum coins. That was the kind of money that made men think about buying a farm and retiring.

As they all sat in hesitation, trading glances and calculating the massive potential profit, a single voice cut through the tension.

“Forget it! There’s no way we’re turning down a deal like that!”

A mercenary unit in the far corner stood up and shouted their agreement.

The others wavered for a heartbeat, but only for a heartbeat. Once the dam was breached, men began standing up all over the tavern.

“We’ll take those terms!”

“Where are we heading? Just give us the deployment orders!”

“Boys, sharpen your steel! We’ve got work to do!”

Lucian smiled at the radical shift in the mercenaries who, only minutes prior, had been lounging in apathy.

He held up a hand to quiet the shouting and issued a final command.

“It’s late, so get your rest! I’ll post the deployment zones tomorrow morning! But mark my words: if you slack off again with some half-baked excuse, I’ll see to it that you vomit up every copper of the advance pay you’ve already taken!”

—

Lucian and his entourage departed the tavern after finishing the negotiations.

He had delivered a few more stern warnings, but unlike their arrival, not a single mercenary dared to voice a complaint.

“That went well enough. I’m sure my big brother will be pleased, so let’s get back and give him the news.”

Raymond swallowed hard as he observed Lucian speaking with such casual indifference. In reality, what had just occurred was a monumental feat.

To think he had completely revitalized a deadlocked situation using a single vow.

To an untrained eye, it might look like he had wasted a small fortune just to remove one piece of human garbage. But a few platinum pieces were a drop in the bucket compared to the leverage Lucian had gained.

He displayed the platinum to prove he possessed the wealth to pay out massive prizes, then used the oath to kill any lingering doubt. He shattered their group loyalty by forcing them to execute one of their own, then planted the seed of fear that any of them could be next.

It was a simple strategy to describe, but nearly impossible to pull off.

Power groups that become too large eventually get drunk on their own influence. Usually, trying to discipline them leads to a bloodbath because their pride has grown as large as their numbers.

Yet, Lucian had slapped them back to reality and forced them into line using nothing but his wits and a few words.

Consequently, the mercenaries lost their collective will and were steered entirely by the Third Young Master’s whims throughout the talk. If Sven had survived—or if their unity hadn’t been compromised—there would have been those who fought back against the terms.

It wasn’t just the lead-up to the deal, either. Even the conditions he set were masterfully crafted.

He kept the base salary unchanged while offering a nearly absurd bonus for results. It looked like a fair balance, but in reality, it was a lopsided victory for House Valdek.

The reason the Empire Liberation Front is moving so freely is that they think the watch is weak. The moment these mercenaries, obsessed with platinum, start hunting them, those rats will have to stay in their holes.

As a clandestine group, they were masters of staying hidden. Once they truly went to ground, it would be nearly impossible for even seasoned sellswords to track them. They might catch a few early on, but for the rest of the term, the mercenaries likely wouldn’t find a trace of them.

In turn, the Empire Liberation Front would be paralyzed, their operational freedom crushed as they tried to dodge the bounty hunters. It was a perfect strategic move: pinning the enemy down while spending as little as possible.

If there was one flaw in the whole performance…

“Young Master, your work was truly brilliant. However, wasn’t that first bag of platinum a bit excessive? What would you have done if a mercenary had actually killed that man on the first attempt?”

Raymond nodded in agreement with Hugo’s question, as it was the same concern he had been harboring.

Though it had worked out, that had been the one volatile part of the scheme. If a greedy mercenary had struck Sven down during the initial oath, the financial loss would have been far greater than the gain.

Confidence is a virtue, but too much of it at a young age can easily rot into arrogance.

Raymond prepared to give some stern guidance depending on how Lucian justified it.

Instead, Lucian just gave a knowing smirk and tossed the large bag of coins to Hugo.

“Look inside.”

“Oof!”

Surprised by the sudden toss of such a heavy weight, Hugo fumbled to catch it. It would be a disaster if even a single coin slipped out and was lost.

“Young Master, please! My heart can’t take that! What if I’d missed!”

“It wouldn’t matter if you dropped them all. There isn’t a single piece of platinum in that bag.”

“What?”

“I swapped them out beforehand. This is the actual pouch of platinum.”

Clink.

A tiny leather bag appeared from within Lucian’s cloak. It was a modest thing, barely a fraction of the size of the large sack Hugo was clutching.

“Then… then this bag is…?”

Stunned, Hugo yanked open the large sack. As he saw the contents, Hugo’s face went completely blank with shock.

“It’s all silver!?”

“Think about it for a second. Would my father really hand over that much platinum to me? Even with his support, there are certain boundaries.”

“Then the bag you threw earlier was…!”

“Aside from the layer I placed on top, it was entirely silver coins. The colors are close enough that if you cover the markings, it’s easy to deceive the eye. The only time I used genuine platinum was for the final vow.”

The casual response left Hugo, Raymond, and the Black Lions completely speechless.

The entire “bag of platinum” had been a massive bluff?

“Wait a moment, Third Young Master. What about the Oath of the Pantheon? You explicitly stated you would give him the platinum.”

“When did I say that? I said I would hand him the bag during the vow. I never actually said the word platinum when referring to the bag’s contents during the oath.”

Raymond and the Black Lions exchanged bewildered looks.

Vincent, who possessed a nearly perfect memory, nodded slowly as he replayed the scene in his head.

“He is correct. He mentioned platinum when he first addressed the mercenaries generally, but when he actually performed the Oath of the Pantheon, he only promised to transfer ownership of everything contained within the bag.”

“So… the offer and the sacred vow were two different things?”

“Technically, the first offer wasn’t a lie either. He spoke while showing the bag, but he never stated that every single coin inside was platinum.”

“…”

It was a bit of a legal reach, but it wasn’t illogical. Contracts were often built on such deceptions, and the mercenaries had been making their own dishonest demands until now.

Most importantly, even if the first part was deceptive, the Oath of the Pantheon remained intact. He had promised to give whatever was in the bag, and he would have.

“But what if you were caught? Like I said, if someone had finished him right after the first offer…”

“I would have grabbed the bag and shoved it away. If they had even an ounce of survival instinct, would they really sit there and count the coins while their greedy friends watched them like wolves? At most, they’d peek at the color and hide it.”

“Even so, the risk was high. The real platinum you took back when you cancelled the vow was still a lot.”

“And at the same time, the man who took that bag would have been marked for death by every other person in that room. With that amount of perceived wealth, everyone’s eyes would have turned red with bloodlust. Even if he checked the bag later and saw silver, no one would have believed his cries of innocence.”

To be blunt, it was unlikely that the man who walked away with just a few real platinum coins would even make it home. Even with the rewards and threats keeping the peace, there were always those who took the violent shortcut.

In his previous life, Lucian had seen men hunt each other for years over far smaller amounts. If the man was lucky, he’d disappear and live quietly. If he was unlucky, he’d be looking over his shoulder until his final breath.

If that was the reality for the current, smaller amount, what would have happened if someone had snatched that entire large bag? If they managed to stay breathing for more than twelve hours after leaving that tavern, it would have been a miracle from the gods themselves.

“And if the recipient of a reward happens to die, there’s no reason I couldn’t just reclaim the property, right? It’s not exactly unheard of for a knight to earn a little extra by clearing out a few murderous bandits on the road.”

“…!”